I want to borrow $2,000 so I can build a PC for school. The federal loan is meant to pay for semesters from September 2016 to July 2017. I am eligible for up to $9500 in Stafford loans and $6000 in Pell Grant. I will enroll at CUNY City Tech for the second half of the school year starting January. Federal Student loans are supposed to be disbursed over two semesters but I only need the loan to help me for one semester. What usually happens for students with this situation? I am going to go to the Financial Aid Office this week but I would like to have a heads up and an idea of what to expect.
Why do you need to build a $2000 computer?
If you are in school for one semester, you get one semester of aid.
I am majoring in illustration, design, computer animation, and game design. To have an early edge and an advantage i need a capable machine.This way I wont be stuck in the schools computer lab. It will give me such an advantage and help progress my career as an entertainment designer.
It costs about the same as a high end Macbook and performs five times better so i dont see why it should come a a surprise haha
Did you apply for TAP?
What the student really wants is to get financial aid now, make the computer, and then attend school. You can’t get financial aid until you enroll, and even then there are requirements for being at least half time.
This plan won’t work.
Can you earn the $2000 instead since you don’t start school until January?
You need to verify at your school how the aid will be handled. In the past, I recall some students receiving a full year worth of Stafford Loans in the second semester. However my memory may be inaccurate, and even if so, the policies about that kind of thing may have changed.
You can get a full years of loans for SPRING semester…but not for fall semester unless you’re certainly graduating that semester.
My son just built a gaming computer for $850 including monitor, so maybe $1000 might be enough?
You can get the full loan in spring, but you are only going to school for one semester - so you can only get aid up to the one-semester cost of attendance. You need to contact the school’s aid office (don’t do it until a few weeks after the fall semester starts, if you can wait). Ask them what you will be eligible to receive for the semester.
Madison85: No I cannot earn 2000 by January. I am on SSI disability and am dependent. I can save my money but itt wouldnt be realistic since I have bills to pay and stuff.
Twoinandone No where did i say i need the equipment immediately. Were this an SAT reading exam you would have gotten that section wrong. I plan on buying the PC whenever i am awarded the loan and/or grant
sybbie719: YES actually. Thank you I did and I am eligable for about $3,000
So lets break down the math. With just PELL ( roughly 5,000) and TAP together (3,000) , I can pay my tuition of $6,720 an still have $2,170 left over which is exactly the cost of all the parts on my list 
The only problem now is, what chances do i have that I will recieve both PELL and TAP? Is it likely? Otherwise i might have to start saving and ask for a loan to cover my expenses.
Also will I be aloud to use the remainder or will the Grants only pay what is needed for tuition?
I have not been accepted into the school yet but I am 100% sure I will be since this is a community college and i have high grades transferring from a private college and I am very proactive in handling everything. Please answer under the assumption that I have already been accepted.
Im asking becasue I havent been in school for a while due to illness and Im not as familiar with financial aid as i used to be. And becasue I need to know before hand so I know how much I should save in order to buy my computer in January.
mommdc
I want the highest specs reasonable for my PC. A thousand dollar PC is not what I need since the most expensive part of the PC is the graphics card and that will run me $700. The point in building a reliable PC is to get the best parts currently available so you do not have to upgrade for a long while. That way your PC will meet the requirements for nearly any task your career can throw at you and you wont have to worry about your computer not performing up to par.
Read these as you needed to build the PC to have it ready for school in the spring, so you wouldn’t be in the labs. You don’t really need a separate $2000, your costs for the spring are going to be $2000 higher because of this one time purchase, no different than buying a $300 text book or the start up costs many freshman have for laptops and dorm supplies. That’s different than borrowing $2000 now. You may be able to have the FA increase your COA for the spring semester.
OK. Would increasing my COA also increase the amount of federal aid i may receive from PELL and TAP? becasue my EFC is 0
I also fear once i mention the $2000 figure to FA they would not want to increase my COA becasue they would not understand why i need such an expensive machine. (when i really do considering the ambitions I have, and really every game design student should) but we will see
You will NOT get more TAP or Pell money by increasing your COA.
Please clarify. Will you be attending college both the fall and spring semesters full time?
The COA is a number set by the school. It is not adjusted for individual circumstances.
Full time Spring Semester only.